Posted on: Sunday, December 30, 2001

Makapu'u rockfall cleared

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 12-foot bolder that landed in the middle of Kalaniana'ole Highway by Queen's Beach late Friday was removed early yesterday morning.

There were no reported injuries from the rockfall. State work crews were sent to the site with heavy equipment shortly after midnight yesterday.

Police in Kailua said that after the boulder was taken away, both lanes of the highway were reopened.

Witnesses said the rock stopped in the center of the two-lane highway between the Makapu'u lighthouse and the entrance of the Hawai'i Kai golf course. Police directed traffic around it until it was taken away.

It was not the first time boulders have fallen at the same area. Last February five small boulders caused the closing of the Honolulu-bound lane of the highway for nearly two hours, and in 1995 a 500-pound boulder landed on a pickup truck, injuring a female passenger.

Residents of Hawai'i Kai and Waimanalo have expressed concern and said they fear a major rockslide similar to one that wiped out a large portion of Kamehameha Highway at Waimea Valley in 2000.

Department of Transportation spokeswoman Marilyn Kali said yesterday that the state is waiting for the completion of a $1.3 million study of the Makapu'u rock problem and that it expects to go into the next legislative session with some recommendations.

"We're waiting for the study to be completed and once it is we'll be scheduling public meetings," she said.

At least one of the previous rockfalls at Makapu'u was the result of heavy rains, and Kali speculated that rains may have contributed to the 12-by-6-foot boulder that fell Friday evening.

"I'm sure that once our highway people removed the boulder they took a look to see if there was anything else loose that looked like it was going to come down."

Police said the highway appeared to be safe for travel yesterday.